Curiosity has almost reached an ingress point into Armargosa
Valley.
To get into the valley, Curiosity will have to cross some fairly
rough terrain , but this also provides an opportunity to analyze the
bedrock as we go. The plan today includes ChemCam and Mastcam
observations of the targets "Silver King" and "Warm Springs." We are
also planning a ~30 m drive, which should place us close to the edge of
Armargosa Valley. After the drive, Curiosity will acquire some standard
post-drive imaging, and a 360-degree Mastcam mosaic to document the
terrain from our vantage point. Early on the morning of Sol 740,
Curiosity will acquire another Mastcam mosaic to characterize the
Pahrump Hills, an interesting patch of bright rocks where we hope to do a
more detailed investigation.
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Curiosity is driving across a plateau towards an ingress point into "Armargosa Valley." This image from Sol 735 shows our drive-direction: We are working our way towards the bright patch of rocks in the upper left portion of the image, known as the "Pahrump Hills." Today's plan includes some ChemCam and Mastcam observations of the targets "Tihvipah," "Santa Rosa Hills," and "Ubehebe" to characterize the local geology. The plan also includes a drive and standard post-drive imaging. In the afternoon, Curiosity will acquire a ChemCam blind target, and several Navcam movies to monitor the atmosphere and search for clouds.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

The volume of data sent from MSL to Earth has been less than usual over
the past few days because the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) went
into "safe mode," a software state that ensures ample solar power and
telecommunications. This
has happened several times before on MRO, and another prompt recovery
is in progress. Without MRO data relay, MSL operations depends on
relay through the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which was not expected to be received until
almost 11:00 Friday. Therefore, the
planning schedule was changed to a "rapid traverse" sol, in which science
observations are limited to allow the day's activities to be prepared
and reviewed more quickly. This allowed us to plan a rover drive when
we otherwise would not have been able to when starting at 11 AM Pacific
time. So the Sol 735 plan includes another ChemCam
passive sky observation and a Mastcam panorama of
the sand dunes that the rover drove past on Sol 733. Only REMS atmospheric measurements are planned for Sols 736 and 737.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Yesterday we did not receive as much data as
expected, so could not drive as originally planned. Therefore, the Sol
732 plan was dominated by targeted ChemCam and Mastcam observations of
"Lippincott," "Hall Canyon," and "Keeler Canyon."
Today we received all the data needed to plan a nice drive, plus
MastCam and ChemCam observations of a target dubbed "Red Pass" on Sol
733. We are planning 2 sols today to get a head start on the long
weekend plan. On Sol 734, ChemCam will take spectra of
the sky during the day, then SAM will sample the atmosphere overnight.
The goal of these observations is to compare the atmospheric chemistry
measured by the two instruments.
Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Curiosity is back to driving! We are taking the high road around Hidden Valley to avoid potentially deep ripple fields, and making our way towards a large crater. This image from Sol 729 shows the crater just ahead of us.
The Sol 731 plan includes a drive to the rim of the crater and some ChemCam and Mastcam observations to characterize the local geology. In the pre-drive targeted science block, Curiosity will investigate targets named "Beck Spring," "Eagle Mountain," "Furnace Creek," and "Rainstorm." After the drive we will acquire our standard post-drive imaging and some systematic observations. Tomorrow is a soliday (a day without planning to allow Earth and Mars schedules to sync back up), so there will be no blog, but the sol 732 blog will be posted the following day.

Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

After much study and discussion, the MSL team decided not to attempt to drill again into the rocks in front of the rover . On Sol 728, ChemCam and Mastcam will observe several nearby targets and the observation tray on the rover. The Sol 729 plan is dominated by the drive, with a single set of MAHLI wheel images. After the drive, on Sol 730, multiple instruments will observe the sky, ChemCam will shoot blind at the surface to the right of the rover, and MARDI will acquire another image during twilight. All of the MAHLI and MARDI activities are pretty standard, so it was an easy planning day for me as MAHLI/MARDI uplink lead.


Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

While we wait for data acquired on Sol 726 to be received later tonight, the Sol 727 plan includes only remote sensing observations. Mastcam and ChemCam will observe both nearby and distant targets during the day, then will attempt to observe some stars after dusk. The goal of the star imaging is to determine how accurately the instruments can be pointed, to support planning for potential observations of comet Siding Spring when it passes very close to Mars in October. An additional benefit, if these stellar observations are successful, is that the data will be useful for checking the radiometric calibration of the cameras.


Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

We were hoping that the Sol 726 plan would include full drilling of the Bonanza King target, but the downlink from Sol 724 showed that the mini-drill activity did not complete successfully, probably because the rock moved during drilling. Planning is still restricted, so the Sol 725 plan had not yet been sent to the spacecraft when the Sol 724 data were received. After much discussion, we decided to send the Sol 725 plan to the rover, recognizing that some of the ChemCam LIBS observations would be precluded by software because the arm will be in the way. We also decided to retract the drill and take all of the MAHLI and all of the other imaging data of the mini-drill hole that were originally planned for Sol 724 but were not acquired after the drilling was aborted. So it was a busy day for me and the other people scheduled to support MAHLI uplink!


Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

We are still looking forward to data from sol 724’s mini-drill experiment, and since we don’t have

that yet, we can’t do the full drill in the sol 725 plan. So instead, we are doing a remote sensing day

on sol 725, which means lots of Mastcam and ChemCam. ChemCam will be zapping four targets:

the tailings from the mini-drill on "Bonanza King", plus targets "Carrara," "Perdido," and "Lee Flat".

Mastcam will be taking documentation images of those targets, plus a mosaic of the target "Lone Pine"

and a photometry experiment to measure how sunlight reflects from the martian soil at different

illumination angles. There are also some Mastcam images of the sun to measure the amount of dust in

the atmosphere, and Navcam will be looking for clouds over Mount Sharp. Meanwhile, CheMin will be

getting ready to ingest some of the drilled rock powder by rotating an empty analysis cell into position.


While we wait for pictures of our mini-drill results, I highly recommend that you take a look at this post

on Curiosity’s wheel damage by Emily Lakdawalla of the Planetary Society. I found it useful even as a

MSL team member because it distills a lot of information into one place.


Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

Everything went well over the weekend, and the drill target seems to be nice and stable, so for the Sol

724 plan, Curiosity will do a "mini-drill" into Bonanza King . This activity is complicated enough that

there wasn’t much of a chance to do any science observations other than those that support the drilling,

except for standard DAN and REMS environmental monitoring. The mini-drill activity does basically what

it sounds like: it drills just a little bit into the target. We do this to make sure the rock characteristics are

safe for a full-depth drill hole. One step closer to a 4th full drill hole on Mars!


Dates of planned rover activities described in these reports are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.